Recommended Posts

As a child, Michael Willits never thought of himself as superhuman. I mean, really, in a world where people can fly, bench-press battleships and chow down on hand-grenades, being able to hear things from a long way away doesn't seem all that useful. Still, as he entered the police force and became an ordinary beat cop, he saw his ability as his 'edge' and kept them secret, until one day, during a hostage negotiation, he 'overheard' the suspect muttering to himself.

He approached the negotiator and told him what he had heard; that the suspect was ready to give up, but really on the edge - twitchy and nervous. If they called off the entry now and got him back on the phone, he'd probably surrender. If they went in, he'd probably be able to kill one or two hostages before they took him down.

Michael Willits has the ability to 'hear' from far, far away and focus that hearing to an incredible degree. As a cop, he's a good footsoldier and obeys orders well, but tends to be somewhat unambitious and a little unimaginative. Before the revelation of his power, he was an easy-going guy who got along with pretty much everyone, however, since then, a number of his colleagues look askance at him, like he's some sort of perpetual eavesdropper.

As a result, he's a bit down-in-the-dumps with being a 'super cop' and wishes he could just go back to being plain old Officer Willits, beat cop. Still, he's a team player, and if the crew need the services of ol' Shotgun Mike, he'll be there to do his duty.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Alvis Saracen is old enough to remember the good ol' days when SWAT was first introduced. The looks on crooks. Ah, the memories. That was back when SWAT meant Special Weapons Assault Team -- before some limp-wristed fainters got their frilly whites in a bunch and switched the acronym to some god-forsaken focus-group-approved pat nonsense. Bah.

Time has marched on and Alvis has marched on with it. It's a damn good thing that Alvis has some sort of slow-age mutant freakiness in his cells. Extra-long teramirs or some-such weirdness. Every year, though, it's gotten a little harder to keep up. Every year there are new SWAT men (and women!) and every year they get younger and faster and stronger. They all know how to work the computer doo-hickies. They all know the protocols for handling the fools looking for suicide by cop; and how to wrangle crowds of gawkers; and how to look damn good for the freakin' bloggers. But none of 'em -- not one! -- was ever able to open a door like Alivs, keep their Sig singing like Alivs', or remember under the heart-pounding stress of an assault the load out on a pump action shotgun set for 1) lock removing, 2) window opening, 3) put the fear of God into 'em with a hole made in the freakin' floor, and 4-8) fill their sorry asses full of rock salt. No sir. Alvis has always been one of a kind.

With more and more dropped comments all dancing around the issue of retirement, Alvis had to take action. And he did. He got himself a ticket to ride. Ride out of the good ol' red white and blue and into Lichtenstein (which isn't even really a country, it's like a friggin Dutchy for crissakes) for some very unusual treatments. Cost him pretty much everything he had. Every penny and a couple of promises he might regret some time in the future... But screw it! Right? SWAT is Alvis' life. Some damn pencil pusher makes him retire, they might as well hand him an H&K-shaped popsicle with his gold watch. For practice.

Hell, it was worth it. Damn straight. 'Cause now Alvis Saracen is a tank unto himself. Forget the body armor. Forget the battering ram. Alvis can take a shotgun blast to the face. He can take a door off its fool hinges. And he's got 50 years of SWAT experience under his belt. Oh yeah. Look out criminals, Alvis is comin'. No. Not Alvis. Heh. From now on, how about you call him BearCat.

Alvis is one of those half-bricks. He's got all the invulnerability you might want in a brick, but nowhere near the strength he'd need to work in the big leagues.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Some people are good with a gun. And then there are people like Willy Tanner. If the target is within a bullet's range, chances are he can put a round through the center ring. His almost inhuman ability with a gun -- any gun -- earned him his nickname (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, or WTF) after his police academy instructor saw him at target practice. Upon graduation, it also earned him an almost instant spot on the LAPD SWAT team as a sniper.

He may not be the fastest or strongest or fittest cop, like BearCat. He may not be a big brain like Trigger. And he may not be an easy-going people person like Shotgun Mike. But if you need someone to hit a target, any target, with his first shot, you call on Whiskey Tango.

For the next team, I think I'd like to defer to Utech and see what he comes up with.

Theme: Who do you call when the earthquake strikes? The typhoon menaces? The twisters are twisting? The tower is infernoed? Disaster Corp! They're not equipped to deal with Dr. Destroyer, but they sure come in handy when that arch-villain fires up his weather machine. Authorized to draw on local relief groups and police anywhere in the world, Disaster Corp is an international operation doing its best to keep up with Mother Nature. An impossible task with so few people, but they take their work seriously and take pride in some spectacular successes over the last year.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Daniel Dobson always wanted to help people. That's why he volunteered at the Red Cross all through high school. That's why he became a fireman, and was studying to become a doctor. He was well on track to meet that goal.

And then 9/11 happened.

Daniel was within sight of Ground Zero when the towers fell. In the smoke, and the fire, and the dust, and the screams -- he tried to do what he could. But it was just too huge a disaster, and he was only one person. Or was he?

As he was trying desperately to free one person from the rubble, he heard another cry for help. And suddenly, he was running there... while still helping the first person. What the...?! To Daniel's surprise, he found he was a duplicator. Soon, a dozen Daniel Dobsons were bandaging wounds, administering treatments, digging through the rubble, and whatever else needed to be done. The scope of the disaster was large enough that nobody realized he was in more than one place at once.

Afterward, he pondered the implications of his newfound ability. His duplicates could not only share what they saw and heard, but could also share memories. And, as he learned when one of "him" slipped on the stairs, they also shared pain, albeit at a reduced level. He also discovered that he grew tired the longer he stayed split up, with the duration depending upon the number of duplicates. (If he only created one duplicate, both he and his twin were fine for about 12 hours. With eight of him running around, they all tired after three hours. Basically, divide 24 by the number of him active, with his maximum number of duplicates being 24. The "tiring" damage is a Drain to Stun and Endurance that only recovers once every hour.)

Shortly after the announcement of the formation of Disaster Corp, Daniel joined as Relief Worker. Sure, doing this derailed his dream of becoming a doctor, but it's a fair trade given the large number of people he's been able to help.

(I don't know if you want to count him as a super, or count him as the agents and up the number to 24. Also, it wasn't until I had typed all the above up that I realized his superficial similarity to Legion of Heroes by Derek Hiemforth [from Digital Hero #1]. He's different enough from LoH to be his own character, but I felt a nod to Derek's creation was in order.)

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

The hero known only as Earth-Speaker says little about who she is. Still, whoever she is, Disaster Corp feels it's a blessing she's on their side, given her abilities. She can temporarily hold back natural/environmental disasters (Suppress), giving the team more time to evacuate the needy &/or get support structures in place. However, it takes a lot of concentration and effort to do so. A few agents are always on guard to protect her just in case, especially after one incident when Cry of Gaia attacked during a California wildfire blitz. Both Cry of Gaia and Gaia's Vengeance want Earth-Speaker either destroyed or serving either of their teams instead, seeing her as a "mockery" of their eco-terrorism mission (though, neither team wants her working for the other as well).

Earth-Speaker actually doesn't know who she really is. Whether she's an avatar of Gaia herself or a "regular" superhuman, she doesn't know. Her first memory is just of a lot of rain...

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Juaqueme Andujar has always been something of an orphan. Abandoned as a teenager by his transient Rastafarian parents he dredged up a life in the back alleys amongst the garbage and refuse... Strangely, though, he was at home among the debris. In fact, over time Juaqueme grew an affinity for garbage, from the small discarded fast food wrappers that flittered in the wind to the hulking rust piles of derelict ships stacked like so much cordwood down at the riverfront shipyard. This affinity eventually became a relationship that evolved into a true partnership. Soon Juaqueme seemed able to communicate with the trash and junk enjoying long babbling conversations with nothing more than garbage. Even his peers on the street thought he was crazy... Until, one day, he casually asked a burnt-out, derelict Oldsmobile Diesel V-8 to "come over here". Sure enough, the heap twisted and molded itself into the semblance of a giant bipedal creature composed entirely of rust and ruined dreams and stumbled over to Jaqueme. Unfortunately, the effort was too much for the old beast of ruined steel and plastic and as soon as it reached the awestruck onlookers it crumbled into a pile of dust, gone forever. From that day forward Juakeme Andujar was simply known SCRAP!

Scrap has the ability to animate trash (technokenesis). Unfortunately, the process quickly degrades his constructs by accelerating the decomposition process.

The son of doctors, Derrick Howard was proud to follow in his parents footsteps. So intent was he that when his meta-gene activated and he developed superhuman powers in his teens, he ignored them. It was during his residency that he met Amelia Hammersmith and she convinced him to do something with his powers. Taking the name Bastion, Derrick reluctantly entered the superhero scene. To his surprise it has been a very rewarding experience.

Aside from his physical enhancements, Bastion has the ability to summon a blue white, translucent energy field that provides protection to himself and others. In addition; although he is affected somewhat by damage done to his field, it converts the energies used against it to physical durability and strength.

In lieu of his "Bulwark", he can summon a personal field that is effortless to maintain and quite durable. He also has fine kinetic energy control, and can absorb knockback, enhance his strength to superhuman levels, and disperse energy attacks so that their effect is lessened.

A low-level brick with the powerful Force wall.

Since we have all four supers...

The Victory Corps

Seeing the success of the first made for TV superteam (Team Amazing) a trio of publicity seeking costumed heroes decided to have their own made for TV super powered audition. In the end, they chose four more team-mates for their power, dedication, appearance, and willingness to be used as fodder for all manner of fame and fortune seeking endeavors.

The Victory Corps have seven members, all photogenic or at least interesting, no one who would be considered disgusting or horrific...the three leaders are a tad shallow...if by tad you mean a kiddie pool. The other four are at least somewhat needy. The Corps has been around almost a year and they're showing signs of actually becoming a more traditional hero team...and the original three are finding their "proteges" to be rapidly forcing them to change as well.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Florence Paris (nee Parowski) is quite good-looking in person, true, but the cameras really love her. Photos, film and artificial eyes all register Florence as one of the most beautiful women on Earth. (Extra Striking Appearance, only when seen through cameras) Which explains her career as an advertising model. But what makes her a superhero is her "other" definition of photogenic--the ability to produce and manipulate light. Light-based illusions, a brilliant flare, the ability to give people sunburn.... Florence lives for the adulation of the masses, and is only a hero because that gets her more popularity. She's slowly learning to enjoy doing good for its own sake.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

One of the three founders of the Victory Corps, Victor claims to be third-generation Army and the lone product of an ill-fated super-soldier program whose scientists were killed by terrorists before they could document the procedure. He is obviously an excellent physical specimen -- athletic, handsome, and in incredible shape -- and has been documented exhibiting superhuman strength on several occasions. He wears a patriotic-patterned costume of red, white, and blue, but does not wear a mask. He carries a triangular shield that he uses both for bashing foes as well as for protection, and is typically armed with a billy club and pistol (typically loaded with rubber bullets). He carries other weapons and equipment if he thinks them fitting for a particular mission (so long as it doesn't leave him looking too "cluttered"). A natural leader, he often directs his teammates in battle and isn't afraid to let them shine in the spotlight against tough foes.

Victor's stated history is a lie, though he's even got his own teammates believing it. Michael Victor Pendleton is a pretty-boy weightlifter/actor with visions of grandeur who had never set foot on a military base before donning his costume. Even that was initially done as a lark, but it's now turned into a permanent gig. Early on, he staged various photo ops that made him appear to be stronger than normal, but it was all smoke and mirrors. He loves the public adoration and wants to be a true superhero, so from the start he has been quietly been seeking out treatments, either legit or not, that would boost him to superhuman levels. Until a treatment actually works, however, he will do his best to look good in public while trying to minimize his own risk of injury or death.

Actually, the past year has matured him a little bit. He has shown flashes of true heroism -- jumping in with shield raised to take a hit for a teammate, and once rushing into a burning building to help some trapped children -- so he might actually grow into the role he's taken on. Only time will tell.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Karysma always wanted to be famous, ideally as a movie star/pop singer. She definitely has the looks, though admittedly her acting and singing chops are mild, to put it nicely. But the critics and media still keep praising her. When her agent told her about the formation of the Victory Corps, she insisted about being a member at the very start. She's an adequate athlete, although just a beginner in the martial art of Taekwondo. Still, her teammates just can't seem to get enough of her!

Of course, her telepathic/mind control powers might have something to do with that. Karysma is actually a rather selfish person, all things considered. She's just staying with the team for now because it "looks good" for her career, especially with all the exclusive interviews she grants the media. A little mental manipulation of the press has them ignore the fact that she's got all the acting talent of a cardboard box. Out of all the team, she's resisting the hardest of being a "real" hero. Lately, she's wondering if she should try harder about "changing" her teammates' minds on that issue. After all, if they keep going on every little case, she could get hurt here!

Share on other sites

Cindy "The Bumpkin" Harris hails from Zebulon, NC. With her heightened strength and extreme speed and toughness, she was a natural for any hero team, and her natural beauty almost begs for her to be on TV. Her extremely thick accent and deliberate manner of speech belies her quick native intelligence as well, causing everyone (including her teammates) to constantly underestimate her as well as pigeonholing her into the role of the backwoods hick. She knew going into this that she'd have to eat a lot of $#@! to get anywhere, but she puts up with it (some days she wonders why). She has a genuinely good heart and looks out for her fellow man as much as her teammates.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

One of the three founders of the Victory Corps' date=' [b']Victor[/b] claims to be third-generation Army and the lone product of an ill-fated super-soldier program whose scientists were killed by terrorists before they could document the procedure. He is obviously an excellent physical specimen -- athletic, handsome, and in incredible shape -- and has been documented exhibiting superhuman strength on several occasions. He wears a patriotic-patterned costume of red, white, and blue, but does not wear a mask. He carries a triangular shield that he uses both for bashing foes as well as for protection, and is typically armed with a billy club and pistol (typically loaded with rubber bullets). He carries other weapons and equipment if he thinks them fitting for a particular mission (so long as it doesn't leave him looking too "cluttered"). A natural leader, he often directs his teammates in battle and isn't afraid to let them shine in the spotlight against tough foes.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

MC Starr born Myshawn Tops, grew up poor in the inner city. Early on, he displayed a talent for rhythm and rhyme, and began the path to becoming a successful rapper. With his first decent-sized paycheck from a gig, Myshawn bought himself a gold ring, his first bling. At his next concert, as he was busting some moves, the young MC found that he could leap great distances, and even fly! But after the gig when he landed, he found that his ring had become corroded and thin. Some experimentation later, MC Starr discovered that he could control gravity to a limited extent, but he needed to be in contact with gold to do so. The more gold, and the greater its purity, the more power he has to draw on. Unfortunately, the use of this power consumes the gold, requiring Starr to constantly replenish his supply, a very expensive limitation.

Myshawn is hoping that hanging out with the Victory Corps will increase his visibility and popularity, so he can charge more for his concerts, so that he can get his entire body covered with bling, which he needs to be heroic.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Ken Abrams only has one power. He generates a telekinetic shove. It's enough to knock a car over. Many people think his running assaults on his targets result in terrific impacts. That's why he's called the Gold Rammer.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

The hero known as Triage passes herself off as strictly a healer (which, to an extent, she is). However, her psychokinetic healing abilities are only part of her psionic powers. In addition to closing wounds, she can cause prior wounds to actually resurface (including BODY damage), though she resists doing this very often. And she literally feeds off the praise and adulation of others. Triage is the Victory Corps member most likely to be glad-handing the public, since physical contact with a sincerely-admiring fan is the only way she can recoup the energy that her powers draw upon.

New team: The Replacements

When the existing hero team in a nearby city disbanded, five individual heroes, all new to the scene, came together to fill the void. They have a bad rep for failing more often than they succeed, but thus far this has been chalked up to inexperience rather than intent.

What the public doesn't know is that *all* of the Replacements are actually powered-up agents of villain teams or criminal organizations, all in disguise and all unaware that their teammates are also undercover villains. And that is the main reason the team fails at fighting crime -- typically one of them will "throw" the fight to help his true team/organization, and the others really aren't heroic enough to press the fight. Please include the supervillain team of criminal agency to which your character actually belongs.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Peacebringer: Is a gentle soul who has the ability to drain the aggression and negative emotions from a crowd. When he concentrates on a single person, he can render them unable to take any action at all. He's also possessed of a really good mental shield. Peacebringer is actually an agent of PSI, looking for espers to be kidnapped and brainwashed, but has no ability to read other people's minds whatsoever and thus is completely unaware of his colleagues' true motivations.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Naturally Scry is a card carrying member of DEMON. He tries to use the team to further his organization's ends. CES

I expect that he leaves the card at home.

Dr. Dark is a skilled martial artist with a helmet that lets him "see" in total darkness; he has night-vision, IR vision, active sonar and radar. He carries "dark bombs" which provide darkness to normal sight and sound, so he can operate in the dark. He also has a few "super dark bombs" that blot out all vision and hearing.

Dark has an armored costume and a few gadgets to help him.

In truth, he is an agent of "Project Sunburst", lead by the Supervillian of that name.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Ushas is a beautiful Indian woman who has powers over light. From her hands springs blinding light of the dawn. However, behind that beautiful face lies a falseness. What most don't know is that the way she gained her powers was from the Children of Shiva. In the end she will betray the world and aid in its destruction.

That's five. Next group, New Youth Pioneers, a band of six Russian teen super-heroes.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Czarina claims her lineage can be traced through the long-lost Romanovs who once ruled Russia. A beautiful young woman, Czarina's appearance belies one tough brick. Her regenerative powers makes her that much more dangerous. Though she makes no claim to restoring any sort of monarchy to Russia, the authorities in Russia are trying to keep a close eye on her. The fact that she refuses to register her identity with the government leads to a prickly relationship.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Just thought of the perfect plotline for the Replacements. A new hero shows up and wants to join the team. Thanks to their own connections, several of the members recognize him as an undercover VIPER agent...but they can't reveal this without exposing who they really are. Thus, each member is secretly trying to find a way to get rid of Repiv without tipping their hand....

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

He is the young, arrogant star of the Moscow Theatre who shares in part the name of one of the greatest Russian actor/directors. He is Constantin Sergeyevich Alexeiev, but he is best known by his superhero name: If. Constantin has the ability to rewind time precisely three seconds. Every random event in those three seconds then has the opportunity to play out differently. A colleague struck is missed. A wall that teeters and falls teeters but does not fall. The red wire is cut instead of the blue. Constantin has thusfar been unable to "edit" the same three second window of reality more than once. That's probably because he spends far more time working on editing his own reality. When dealing with matters that deal only with himself, Constantin is remarkably adept at causing the if his opponent missed result to turn up more than the alternative.

Constantin's high Skill Rolls, DCV, Armor, and other defensive powers all have the sfx: "if".He has very limited offensive ability and works best with a group.